#71-B-07

Idaho Bird Records Committee Rarities Report Form

Species: Northern Parula

Reporter: Jay Carlisle

6105 Kirkwood Rd

Boise, ID 83709

jaycarlisle@boisestate.edu

Other Observers: Theresa Mathis, Susan Patla (& husband) as well as the following IBO crewmembers/volunteers: Jake Briggs, Dianne Parrott, and Allison Martin (who took film pictures …)

Date Report Prepared: 5-29-07

Date Sighting Occurred: 5-27-07

Locality of Observation: Camas NWR headquarters, Jefferson Co.; specifically this bird was seen along the ‘Dogleg’ which is N of the office

Habitat: riparian woodland

Conditions: clear, cool, and calm

Did you take notes? not at all

Did you consult a field guide or other reference work? after the observation

What guide(s) or reference(s) did you consult?

Sibley, National Geographic, Peterson’s ‘Warblers’

Description: Vocalizations: While conducting a point count survey just N of our netting area, I first heard a rising, buzzy trill at about 90 meters distance and this continued off and on for the remaining 5 minutes or so of my survey. Fresh of my sighting from 5-26-07, N Parula was on my mind and this song fit the bill very well. After the count, I tracked it down and saw a warbler with a greenish back; blueish-gray wings & head; white crescents above and below the eye; 2 white wing bars; yellow chest with a necklace of black and maroon; whitish belly & undertail; and a short tail with white spots.

The key differences between this bird and the bird seen the day prior (see separate report) were location (about 500 meters apart – though this alone means little), the song types (see note below), and the two maroon spots on either side of the chest, right at the border between the yellow upper chest and whitish lower underparts. These spots were absent or nearly so on the bird the day before (when I got back from finding the bird, Theresa found it and came back certain it was a different bird based on these spots alone).

Note on songs: the first song that I heard this bird deliver was the typical buzzy trill that rises throughout the song. Whereas the 5-26-07 bird had several distinct notes built into its buzzy trill, this song was more of a pure trill and was what first made me wonder about whether or not it was the same bird (then I took notice of the maroon spots …). Then, after closing nets and searching in vain for the 5-26-07 Parula, at around 1pm I went back up to the spot and found the bird singing again (buzzy trill). In the 10 minutes I stayed (it was mostly sitting in the same place high in a cottonwood and singing sporadically), it switched back and forth to a 2nd song type that also sounded different from the ‘other’ song of the 5-26 bird. Though I don’t have detailed notes about this, I am certain that the songs differed between birds.

Behavior: The bird was singing pretty consistently and was observed feeding in some big willow trees along the Dogleg, where it often hung downwards probing leaves below it. I watched it for about 10 minutes, most of which it was foraging but it also made a couple of short flights – seemingly in loose association with 2 ‘Audubon’s’ Yellow-rumped Warblers that were chasing each other & feeding nearby. At 1pm I observed it for about 10 more minutes singing in a taller cottonwood tree – mostly I was just listening to songs as it was not feeding at this time.

How and when did you positively identify the bird, and what clinched the identification for you? Clinching features included the songs combined with the yellow chest and the breast band, the greenish back, and the blueish-gray head with white eye crescents.

How did you eliminate similar species, and what were they? This is a very distinctive species (size, shape, and plumage) and the songs were distinctive as well. With good views (which were had by all birders listed above), the only really similar species is the much less expected Tropical Parula which lacks the eye crescents and the distinct breast band of male Northerns; Tropicals also have more extensive yellow onto the lower chest.

Experience with this species (and similar species): I have observed tens to hundreds of Northern Parulas and this is the 2nd I have observed in Idaho (first was one day previous; see separate report -- #58-B-07). I have also seen one Tropical Parula in Texas and many more in Mexico and central America.

General birding experience: extensive; 14+ years in US and Latin America

Were photo(s), video, and/or audio obtained by you? (If yes, please include or attach) Yes, by Allison Martin on print film.

(Stacy cropped and enlarged the scanned images to improve web viewing).